“No! Even more special than that. One for me and possibly one for you, too, if you promise to behave and stop bloody fiddling with my stuff every time I go to the bathroom. My dad is treating us, so don’t try to offer to pay.”
Thank God for that. “Go on, then, spill the beans.”
He made a drumroll sound on the bedside table, holding the tickets between his teeth.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I cordially invite you to…the grand opening of…this white envelope.”
More drumrolls accompanied a throaty master of ceremonies voice, albeit muffled as he spoke around the envelope. God, he was such a dork.
“Is this you attempting to be funny, Alex?”
“Yes, it is. Humour me.”
More bloody drumrolls. “Here, in this white envelope, are two prized tickets to see….” His lips curled naughtily as he removed them from his mouth. “Are you busy on Saturday night?”
“No!” I huffed. “Bloody hell, Alex! Get on with it!” His eyes sparkled with mischief. The bugger was loving every second.
“I suppose…maybe I should let my dad have one of the tickets…”
Sitting up, I collared him in a headlock. He squealed with laughter as he wriggled in my grasp.
“Yes, I think that’s what I should do. I should take my dad. Because too-cool-for-school Matt Leeson wouldn’t be that bothered about going to see The Pogues play in Wolverhampton this Saturday night, would he?”
Shell-shocked is the best description for my reaction. Shell-shocked quickly replaced by emotional. Shit, I might start to cry. Matt Leeson never cried. Blinking back salty tears, I swallowed hard, then swallowed again.
For all my bullshit chat and musical obsession, I’d never had the opportunity to go to a single gig, not ever. A lack of funds and a lack of transport. And now, this wonderful boy I’d fallen in love with, who had no idea how much I craved him, had invited me to see my idols.
My headlock morphed into a bear hug, as from behind I anchored myself against his bulk, my arms squeezed around his chest, our cheeks smooshed together. Once more I swallowed down the thickness in my throat and blinked back the moisture from my eyes. To cover up, I made amwahfake kissing noise. If only it could have been a real one.
“Okay, okay, simmer down!” With a happy sigh, Alex gently disentangled himself, then scooting backwards, he sat next to me, our legs dangling off the side. I plucked one of the tickets from his hand, staring at it in awe, a no doubt stupid grin spreading across my face. An ordinary-looking rectangle of card covered in loopy green writing, with a green shamrock design in one corner. I couldn’t recall a better surprise ever.
Alex’s shy gaze met mine. “I take it you want to come with me, then? I mean, I could always see if one of the lads from rugby….”
“No way, José. This little beauty is mine.” I kissed it, then shoved it down the front of my jeans and wiggled it around a bit for good measure, sealing its fate. A trick generally employed by Brenner to stop anyone nicking his stuff. God knows what Alex thought, but he still grinned at me. “This Saturday? It’s a date.”
FIESTA
(THE POGUES)
Seething with envy, Denise sulked all afternoon. So, to all intents and purposes, she was her usual, sullen self. I would head to Alex’s straight after work, this time to prepare for the gig, yet again postponing our regular afternoon rendezvous in her bedroom.
Last Saturday’s shag marked my most enthusiastic performance to date. Labouring inexpertly above her, I’d shut my eyes tight, even blocking out Kurt’s winsome features, easier to imagine the passive body underneath me belonging to Alex. Alex wouldn’t be passive, obviously; he’d buck like a crazed bronco. In raptures of incoherent ecstasy, he’d whimper my name between pleas for more of my dick, because I was so god-damn sexy. My actions bringing him to this state of unadulterated lust still remained a little hazy. If a section of the school library, or indeed, Stourbridge town library existed, dedicated to detailed depictions of men having sex, then I’d yet to discover it, and not through lack of effort.
With my favourite image of Alex’s muscled torso imprinted on my eyeballs, my efforts with Denise reached a speedy and vigorous conclusion; even Denise had let out a miniscule sigh of something approaching vague satisfaction. Unceremoniously, I peeled myself off her, discarded the condom in the bin, then poked my dick back into my trousers (yes, so classy I never even undressed properly). And then I waited for the familiar, mild post-coital revulsion to wash over me, vowing, not for the first time, to put a stop to whatever it was Denise and I had together.
“Your boyfriend’s here,” she murmured slyly towards the end of the afternoon after Alex had taken up his usual post at one of the empty tables. My pulse quickened.My boyfriend. God, Brenner’s jibe all over again. Except Brenner had been giving it some of the usual banter, whereas Denise’s observation felt more pointed. You could never trust the quiet ones, especially an observant, female quiet one, who had experienced my lacklustre heterosexual performances first-hand. If anyone put two and two together, the smart money would be on Denise.
“Is that supposed to be funny? Am I not allowed to have mates who aren’t animals?”
She shrugged, as if to say she couldn’t care either way and he was welcome to me. The unerring precision in which Denise conveyed emotion without contracting a single muscle of her face never ceased to amaze me.
“I know you. I’ve seen you together.”
What the fuck? What was that supposed to mean? Cold sweat itched at my neck, but I’d be damned if she’d see me panicking. No one knew about me, no one. I’d been so bloody careful. I’d copied Phil’s swaggering walk. I purposely made my voice as deep as I could. I even adopted a pose where I sat on my hands to avoid waving them around. Resisting the urge to touch my damp neck, I attempted an ironic smirk.
“Doeshelook gay to you? He plays rugby for fun, Denise!”
Denise glanced up at Alex, who smiled back at us. Dressed in his training kit, toned legs spread loosely apart in front of him, the guy positively radiated testosterone. She paused, as if contemplating my question.